French Bread Recipe

This French Bread Recipe is a different Recipe than the regular French Bread. I got this from Brazil. It’s almost like a Mexican Bolillo Bread. Its super soft inside and has a crispy (not cracked) crust.

For this recipe I used Fresh Yeast, but my advice is to use rapid yeast instead, It cuts down the time by half.

INGREDIENTS:

– 500 g of Bread flour (about 3 cups, might be more or less)

– 15 g of fresh yeast (5 g of dry yeast or about 1/2 tbsp)

– 1 teaspoon of salt

– 1 full tablespoon of sugar

– 300 ml of cold water

HOW TO MAKE IT:

Take about 1/2 cup from your 300 ml of cold water and warm up to 110F. Add the water to your KitchenAid Mixer bowl and add dry yeast and sugar, mix it well and let it rest for about 5-10 minutes.

Once your Yeast Mixture is foamy its time to add flour and salt, little by little on your bowl with your mixer speed on 2 and the hook attachment on.

Add the super cold water slowly until needed. Remember you might need more flour or water.

Let the hook on your Mixer work your dough for at least 10 minutes.

You will know the dough is ready when it doesn’t stick to your fingers and it stretches easily without ripping.

Once your dough is ready, shape it into a ball with your hands and transfer the dough into a clean bowl. Cover it with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest in a warm and dry place for about 1 hour if you are using instant dry yeast or for at least 1 1/2 hours if using fresh yeast.

Lay your dough (doubled in size) on a clean surface and cut it into 4 pieces. You will need a rolling pin for this.

With the rolling pin roll your dough very thin, trying to keep its shape oval. You will notice it’s a very hard task since you used bread flour and this makes your dough super elastic, all you need is patience.

Now with your dough laying flat on the surface you will roll it VERY TIGHT into a snake shape. When it’s completely rolled you need to keep rolling to make it longer. Now you will cut it into 4 pieces using your hands sideways (mostly you will use your little finger).

On a baking sheet lay a piece of parchment paper and you can lay the little rolls on it.

Repeat the same process with all 4 pieces of dough.

Let it rise again for another hour or so in a warm place.

Preheat your oven to 355F.

Now this is the tricky part, for your bread to have a nice and crispy crust, your oven needs steam. What you need to do is set an empty cake sheet on the bottom of your oven and boil some water on your stove top. Once your bread doubled size and can brush cold water over the bread rolls.

Your empty baking sheet will be super hot by the time you are putting your bread in the oven, all you have to do now and pour the hot boiling water inside the cake sheet (under the sheet with bread rolls) and close your oven quickly. It will steam beautifully.